During one of those meetings, the secretary and Uruguayan Defense Minister Eleuterio Fernandez Huidobro agreed to update their defense cooperation agreement, adopted in 1953, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in a statement.

The two defense leaders, whose nations have a longstanding and close military-to-military relationship, also agreed that updating the document will modernize the framework for future U.S.-Uruguayan defense cooperation.

“The United States views Uruguay as a key defense partner in South America,” Little said.

During the meeting with Huidobro, the U.S. defense secretary thanked Uruguay for its contributions to international peacekeeping operations, and the two leaders discussed increasing regional coordination on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, the press secretary said.

This morning, Panetta began a rainy Sunday on the peninsula of Punta del Este by attending a mass delivered in Spanish at the small, quaint La Candelaria church, a blue and white building with a gabled roof and bell tower.

Later at the Conrad Hotel, the venue for tomorrow’s conference, the secretary took photographs with staff members of the Montevideo-based U.S. Embassy.